Fair Wage Strategies in a Global Economy

Why are income inequalities so large and why do they continue to increase in so many countries? What role can minimum wages play in reducing social and economic inequalities? What is a good system of wage bargaining? What constitutes a fair wage?

About this course

Billions of workers around the world have no regular income or do not even earn a wage sufficient to live a decent life. Over the last decade, wages for many workers have been stagnant and the largest part of the economic gains achieved has gone to the top of the income pyramid. Wage discrimination based on gender, ethnicity or employment status contributes towards greater inequality and violates the basic principle of equal pay for work of equal value. The market has been unable to ensure a fair distribution of wages and guarantee the well-being of ordinary people and social peace in our societies.

Where poverty and inequality have been reduced, this has mainly been thanks to the creation of regular waged jobs and a more equitable wage structure. Sustainable wage policies and fair wage setting mechanisms can contribute to a more equal and prosperous society for all. This course offers a mix of video lectures and interviews, readings, online resources and exercises to gain both knowledge and practical skills to understand the actual landscape of wage setting.

This is a free self-paced course in which you can study at your own pace and free of cost. You can enrol for free in the audit track and - if you wish - get a Statement of Participation for 29 € once you've finished the course. When an exam phase is organized(, you will have the chance to get a University Certificate of Achievement for 49 € after passing an online exam. The Global Labour University may offer scholarships to participants from non-OECD countries and to trade unionists from OECD countries to do a Certificate for free. If you wish to get a Certificate for this course, please start studying in the audit track and send an email to online@global-labour-university.org to express your interest in an exam phase.
You can also visit the Global Labour University Online Academy to find other free online courses on International Labour Standards and Decent Work in Global Supply Chains and join the GLU Online Education Facebook Group.
The course includes the recording of two Facebook live discussions with experts from the Global Union Federation IndustriALL and the ILO. You can find the recording here.

What do I need to know?

The course requires a working level of English. Some prior knowledge of wage policies and economics will make it easier to follow. However, theoretical concepts are explained in an accessible and user-friendly manner, so it is also possible to participate in the course using skills and knowledge acquired outside formal education.

What will I learn?

This course explains global wage trends and discusses the particularities and strategies of collective bargaining and minimum wages as wage setting mechanisms. The course presents global trends and analyses the relationship between wages and economic development, as well as the impact of migration, gender and racial discrimination on wages policies. After presenting the major challenges for setting fair wages today, the course will look at successful experiences and labour campaigns that resulted in better working and living conditions, and ongoing initiatives for living wages.

Course Structure

Each week, we will open a new chapter and the chapters will remain accessible once they are opened. So you can go back to prior chapters at any time. The estimated workload is 3-4 hours per week.

Chapter 1: Political economy of wages

This chapter provides a general overview of the current global picture on wages. Senior experts from the International Labour Organisation (ILO), introduce the main global trends on wages and explain how non-standard forms of employment have impacted the world of work. The chief trade union negotiator for the new minimum wage in South Africa, discusses the political and economic challenges of wage setting, while a member of the Trade Union Advisory Committee (TUAC) to the OECD, explains the multiple purposes of collective bargaining. Participants will be invited to introduce themselves and share relevant material in an interactive world map.

Chapter 2: The role of collective bargaining

This chapter focuses on the key role that collective bargaining plays for wage setting. ILO expert Susan Hayter describes the various actors in the bargaining process and how the different negotiation formats have a direct impact on current wage trends and wage-income distribution. Trade unionists from Argentina and Germany introduce different bargaining models and explain practical implications, including the right to strike as the underlying indispensable condition of any genuine bargaining process.

Chapter 3: Minimum and living wages

This chapter introduces the concept and history of minimum wages, as well as the existing international labour standards that provide a regulatory framework for minimum wage setting. It also looks at the actual levels of country-level compliance. Experts from South Africa discuss what the policy considerations are when designing minimum wages and the benefits of setting minimum wages in a country with a very unequal wage distribution. Finally, the challenge of compliance with minimum wage regulations will be explored.

Chapter 4: Macroeconomics of wages

This chapter untangles the relationship between wages and economic development. It discusses how wages are shaped by, and impact, different economic regimes, and then goes on to discuss the relationship between wages, inequality and economic policy. These topics are presented by economic experts from Europe and India. The chapter explains these fundamental and important economic concepts in an accessible way.

Chapter 5: Wage setting in an unfair world

Various forms of discrimination contribute towards wage inequality. Experts from Brazil and India introduce discrimination based on gender, race, cast and ethnicity and the how these shape wage levels. Trade unionists from the Global South discuss the challenges of wage setting for migrant workers and workers in precarious employment.

This chapter aims at drawing lessons for sustainable wages policies and trade union strategies around the world. Workers in different parts of the world are undertaking campaigns for living wages to address social inequalities and to ensure decent jobs. This chapter explores examples of such campaigns and initiatives, including the Fight for Fifteen campaign in the United States, the minimum wage campaign in South Africa, supply chain involving global buyers, and the difficulties and chances of negotiating wages in an inflationary environment in Latin America.

Course options

Audit Track (for free)
No requirements.

Audit track with Statement of Participation (29 €)
For obtaining your Statement of Participation in the Audit Track, you need to complete 80% of the video lectures and quizzes.

Certificate Track with Certificate of Accomplishment (49 €)
When an exam phase is organized, you will have the chance to get a University Certificate of Achievement for 49 € after passing an online exam. The Global Labour University may offer scholarships to participants from non-OECD countries and to trade unionists from OECD countries to do a Certificate for free. If you wish to get a Certificate for this course, please start studying in the audit track and send an email to online@global-labour-university.org to express your interest in an exam phase.

MOOC team

Prof. Dr. Hansjörg Herr (Professor Emeritus, Berlin School of Economics and Law Germany)

Course instructors

Prof. Dr. Hansjörg Herr

Dr. Uma Rani

Uma Rani is Senior Economist at the Research Department and joined the International Labour Organization (ILO) in 2008. She holds a Ph.D in Development Economics from University of Hyderabad, India. Prior to joining the ILO she worked as an Associate Professor at Gujarat Institute of Development Research, Ahmedabad, India. She has also held Visiting Fellow positions at Institute of Developing Economies, Japan; ETH-NADEL, Zürich and Institut de Recherche pour le Developpement, Paris to undertake research on informal employment, precarious and non-standard forms of work. Her main research interest lies in development economics, the informal sector, minimum wages, social policies and gender.

Gilad Isaacs

Gilad Isaacs is the Director of the CSID research unit in the School of Economic and Business Science at the University of the Witwatersrand and the coordinator of the National Minimum Wage Research Initiative. He holds a MA in Political Economy from New York University and a MSc in Economics from SOAS, University of London, where he is currently completing his PhD. Gilad has a background in political activism and research interests in finance, macroeconomic policy, labour markets and the mineral sector.

Dr Frank Hoffer

Frank Hoffer studied in Bremen, London and Moscow. He holds a PhD in Economics. Before joining the IL0 in 1998, he worked at the Center for Social Policy at the University of Bremen and served as Labour Counsellor at the German Embassy in Moscow. He was research officer at the Bureau for Workers' Activities at the ILO and international coordinator of the Global Labour University and is now the Executive Director of the ACT Foundation.

Susan Hayter

Susan Hayter is a Senior Industrial Relations Specialist at the International Labour Office in Geneva, Switzerland where she heads the Labour Relations and Collective Bargaining Group in the Conditions of Work and Equality Department. She is the editor and a contributing author of The Role of Collective Bargaining in the Global Economy (ILO and Edward Elgar). Her work focusses on the changing nature of work and production and the implications for work, unions and employers, and industrial relations. She has also worked on the technical secretariat of the ILO World Commission on the Social Dimension of Globalization where she was responsible for the knowledge network on global supply chains. Prior to joining the ILO, she was the Director of the Cape Town Office of the Independent Mediation Service of South Africa and a lecturer at the University of the Witwatersrand in Industrial Relations. She played a role in the establishment of legitimate industrial relations institutions during the transition to democracy. She has an MSc in Industrial Relations from the London School of Economics.

Patrick Belser

Mr Patrick Belser is Senior Economist at the International Labour Office (ILO) in Geneva, where he leads the work of the Wage Group and is the principal editor of the ILO Global Wage Report, an ILO flagship report published every two years since 2008. He has a D.Phil. in Economics from the Institute of Development Studies (IDS) at the University of Sussex, and has published several articles on minimum wages and wage policies, and co-authored a book on forced labour and human trafficking. He also studied at the Graduate Institute for International and Development Studies in Geneva, and at Columbia University in New York.

Prof Dr Mary Bellman

Mary Bellman is a Labor Educator and Assistant Teaching Professor at Penn State’s School of Labor and Employment Relations. She facilitates educational programs with workers and union members on topics such as globalization, economics, and immigration. In addition to her current role as a labor educator, Mary teaches on gender and the global economy in the Global Labor University (GLU) program at Penn State. After earning her Ph.D. in Political Science from the University of New Mexico, Mary served as program director for a labor solidarity organization based in Guatemala, coordinating educational programs with union women throughout Central America.
Mary joined the faculty at Penn State in 2014 after six years with the University of Minnesota's Labor Education Service. During her career, Mary has helped to develop several labor leadership programs and has coordinated regional summer schools for union women. She also serves as the Northeastern representative to the national board of the United Association for Labor Education (UALE).

Dr Luis Campos

Coordinator of the Observatory of Social Law at the Argentinean Workers Confederation (CTA). PhD in Social Science. Lecturer at the University of Lanus (Argentina). Specialist on industrial relations and labour migration.

Jenny Holdcroft

Jenny was recently elected as Assistant General Secretary of IndustriALL. Previously as Policy Director at IndustriALL she was leading the global union federation's campaigns on precarious work, living wages and sustainable industrial policy. She is a member of the steering committee of the Accord on Fire and Building Safety in Bangladesh and negotiated the Memorandum of Understanding between IndustriALL and global garment brands to create the ACT process to deliver living wages through industry collective agreements linked to brand purchasing practices. In 2001, she joined the International Metalworkers Federation as the Equal Rights Director. Jenny’s background is with the Australian trade union movement where she started as a shop steward.

Maité Llanos

Born in Argentina and graduated in International Relations, Maité Llanos has been working with social movements and trade unions for more than ten years, focusing on environment and on free trade negotiations. From 2010 to February 2015 she coordinated the international department of CTA –Central de Trabajadores de la Argentina-Autónoma. Before that, Maité has worked for the Trade Union Confederation of the Americas In São Paulo, focusing on environment and labour. In 2015 she moved to Geneva and worked for ILO’s Department on Fundamental Principles and Rights at Work. Currently she is project coordinator and online tutor at the Global Labour University.

Tandiwe Gross

Tandiwe Gross graduated in political science and law and holds an M.A. in Labour Policies and Globalisation from the University of Kassel and Berlin School of Economics and Law. After working for the Global Labour University and the International Labour Organization in the area of labour rights and due diligence in global supply chains, she now works as Senior Programme Manager at the ACT Foundation.

Bruno Dobrusin

Currently based in Canada, he worked for seven years at the Argentine Workers Confederation (CTA). He holds a PhD in Social Sciences from the University of Buenos Aires, Argentina and is a GLU alumni from the Masters in Globalisation and Labour at the Tata Institute of Social Sciences, India.

Dr. Edlira Xhafa

Edlira Xhafa has a Masters in Labour Policies and Globalisation from the Global Labour University (Germany) and holds a PhD in Labour Studies from the University of Milan, Italy. Since 2000, she has been engaged with various national trade unions in her own country Albania, as well as in other countries such as the Philippines, Bangladesh, Cambodia and Myanmar. She has also worked for, and collaborated with a number of international trade unions and labour organisations such as EI, PSI, BWI, ILO, FES and others. She has (co)-authored a number of peer-reviewed book chapters and articles published in internationally-recognized journals and other academic publications.